mac5155 wrote:So when they say "without a pulse" does the machine just steadily cycle his blood and not pump it in "pulses"?

Pretty much. The following picture gallery describes how it worked (especially pictures 6-13). The biggest challenge is apparently to fine tune the pressures in both valves. The (relative) success of the procedure was aided by the fact that the patient was a healthy, well-trained firefighter before his heart problems started.